Former Haas Formula 1 racer and current Mercedes reserve Schumacher showed a desire to adjust himself to the multi-driver format of sportscar racing instead of going out for individual glory, according to four-time Le Mans 24 Hours class winner Lapierre.
“When Mick came to his first test, it was in Jerez,” said Schumacher’s Alpine team-mate Lapierre. “For me when drivers come in from single-seaters, even more Formula 1, there are two options.
“Either he wants to be a real sportscar driver, share the car and work with his team-mates or he just wants to shine.
“I was very positively surprised with Mick since day one. He really wanted to work as a team and it suits him quite good as well.
“And his pace was straight away very fast. This we knew [already], we had no doubt about this.
“The only thing now is to have a little bit is traffic management and this kind of stuff because this is very new [to him].”
Schumacher first got a chance to test the Alpine A424 LMDh last October and impressed the French manufacturer enough to earn a seat in its line-up for the 2024 season, joining team stalwarts Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxievere aboard the #36 car.
Prior to his Hypercar move, the German driver spent two seasons competing in F1 with Haas from 2021-22, scoring a best finish of sixth on his second visit to the Red Bull Ring for the Austrian Grand Prix.
Source: Autosport